Fast Formula for a Powerful LinkedIn Professional Headline

Your LinkedIn Profile isn’t just a placeholder – it has a job to do! By marketing you effectively, it serves as your digital identity and an online promotional workhorse.

As the most highly indexed part of your Profile (next to your name), your Headline allows recruiters and employers to locate you, based on the search terms or keywords you specify.

If you’ve filled in only part of your Headline or let LinkedIn populate it with your current job title and employer (which is the default value), you could be missing out on valuable traffic to your Profile. Don’t let that happen! Instead, use as many of the 120 characters available in your Headline – ensuring that it represents your career level and personal brand, while distinguishing you from your competition.

The 4-Part Headline Formula

Try the following formula when you’re stumped for an effective LinkedIn Headline that leverages your industry expertise, achievements, and keywords:

1 - Add your target job or position level, such as:

CEO

VP

Administrative Assistant

EVP

Developer

Call Center Rep

Account Rep

IT Project Manager

Here, you’ll want to use the shortened, commonly abbreviated version to conserve space. You can also add a similar title, particularly if you are targeting jobs at a similar level (for example, Director / VP or Receptionist / Administrative Assistant).

2 - Add your primary industry or job function.

Keep in mind that this should be a strong keyword that encompasses your industry (Consumer Products, Beverage, Manufacturing) or function (IT, Finance, Sales, Marketing, etc.). By doing so, you’re giving employers an idea of your main career path and background.

Operations

Technology

Front Desk

CPG

Manufacturing

IT

Accounting

Customer Service

Healthcare

Order Processing

Employee Relations

Billing

3 – Pull in your strongest areas of expertise.

Add at least one, if not several, keywords that represent your areas of strength (your superpower, so to speak), such as Profit Growth, Team Engagement, Consumer Insights, or New Sales Territories. Be sure to look at job postings in your field for ideas on desirable skills and competencies.

Look at these examples for ideas:

Go-To Market Strategy

Software Sales

M&A Due Diligence

Corporate Restructuring

Customer Relations

Channel Management

ERP Systems

Financial Reporting

4 – Add a signature achievement.

Here’s where you’ll want to get specific about your career success stories, focusing on the results you’ve generated. You can either list a more general accomplishment that doubles as a keyword (such as Sales Results, Customer Satisfaction, or Production Increases) or disclose details (35% Annual Growth, $125K First-Year Sales, or 56% of New Reseller Alliances).

To convey your brand value to employers, your “achievement” should resonate within your industry and reference results that you can spell out in greater detail in your Summary and Experience sections.

Us as many of those 120 characters as possible for your Headline. Make the message about your ROI clear and compelling.

Bottom Line

Your LinkedIn Professional Headline accompanies your name and photo almost everywhere in LinkedIn. With a Headline that makes it clear what you want and what you have done, you are marketing yourself to everyone who sees your name. Include the right keywords for you, and your Profile will be found more often in LinkedIn searches.

Job-Hunt's LinkedIn for Job Search Expert Laura Smith-Proulx, Executive Director of An Expert Resume, is an award-winning executive resume writer, national columnist, author, LinkedIn and SEO enthusiast, and past recruiter. Laura is author of How to Get Hired Faster: 60+ Proven Tips and Strategies to Access the Hidden Job Market. Connect with Laura on Twitter at @ResumeExpert, on LinkedIn at LinkedIn.com/in/laurasmithproulx.